Auburn Football: Most Important Player at Each Position
Believe it or not, Auburn's 2015 season is almost two months away from kicking off in the Georgia Dome. The long offseason wait is hitting the home stretch.
The Tigers are itching to hit the field again after a 2014 campaign that finished well short of a repeat SEC title at a disappointing 8-5.
Still, big moves were made in the offseason with assistant coaching changes and decisions by top players to stay in school, and those developments mean the buzz is back on the Plains.
Who are some of the biggest names and faces behind all this preseason hype for Auburn? Here's a look at the most important player for the Tigers at each position, which was determined by potential, experience and the ability to play multiple roles.
Let us know who you think will be Auburn's most important players on offense and defense for the 2015 season in the comments below.
Quarterback: Jeremy Johnson
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Not only is Jeremy Johnson the most important quarterback for Auburn—that really goes without saying—he should be the most important offensive player on the entire roster for 2015.
Auburn has already seen several glimpses of the junior's incredible potential.
Last year, he started the season opener against Arkansas in place of a suspended Nick Marshall and went 12-of-16 passing for 243 yards and a touchdown in just one half of action. He completed 76 percent of his passes in 2014 and posted an incredible QB rating of 201.43.
His skill set will transform the way Malzahn's hurry-up, no-huddle offense looks on the field. Johnson adds incredible precision and pocket presence to the strong arm Auburn had with Marshall in the past two seasons—and don't count out his running ability.
While he doesn't have Marshall's speed, the 6'5", 240-pound Johnson ran for 11 touchdowns during his stellar high school career and could be a dangerous weapon as the inside man on the read-option.
If he continues to perform like he has in limited work so far at Auburn, the Tigers will have a Heisman Trophy candidate leading another explosive offense.
Running Back: Roc Thomas
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Junior college transfer Jovon Robinson will get his share of touches early on as a massive (6'0", 230 lbs), bruising running back, but sophomore Roc Thomas has the most potential out of the backfield for Auburn.
Thomas' agility and acceleration make him a constant touchdown threat, and his chances to go the distance should increase with the departure of Corey Grant to the NFL. Bleacher Report's Barrett Sallee picked Thomas to be Auburn's breakout star in 2015 because of how dangerous he can be offensively.
"I like what I saw from Thomas in the spring game," Sallee said. "If he can continue to do that and pick up his pass-blocking skills a little bit, he will evolve into a true No. 1 running back on the Plains and will do some damage."
As an all-purpose player, Thomas can be useful on all kinds of runs while also posing a threat as a receiving option and return man.
What Thomas brings to the table makes Auburn's offense even scarier for the future. He's someone Malzahn can use in a ton of ways.
Wide Receiver: D'haquille Williams
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D'haquille Williams' first season at Auburn was so outstanding that few believed he would be back for an encore. But the former JUCO star is back for his senior season on the Plains and will continue to be the all-around receiving threat that the Tigers have lacked in recent years.
At 6'2" and 224 pounds, Williams was a matchup nightmare for defensive backs, as he caught a team-high 45 passes in the 2015 season.
While Sammie Coates was a pure vertical receiver, Williams could open up things for the Tigers as an intermediate target and constant red-zone threat.
"I know if I was a quarterback I'd like to have somebody like that to throw to," offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee told AL.com's Brandon Marcello. "He's a guy that, when he's covered, he's open. It doesn't matter who you are, that's a good safety bucket. It's always a plus."
Auburn will need other receivers such as senior Ricardo Louis to step up alongside Williams this season, but even when defenses locked on Williams last year, he still made huge catches.
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Tight End/H-Back: Kamryn Pettway
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During the 2013 run to the SEC title and national championship game, Auburn had the human version of a sledgehammer in H-back Jay Prosch. The senior opened up huge holes for the Tigers' record-breaking running game with his lead blocking skills and became a valuable weapon.
The Tigers didn't have that same punch last season, and it showed.
This year, Auburn coaches think they have their new blocking presence in 242-pound redshirt freshman Kamryn Pettway, who moved from running back to H-back.
"Kamryn is so athletic," Lashlee told James Crepea of the Montgomery Advertiser. "For a big guy, he's very athletic. He's light on his feet. He's very physical and I think he's got a chance to really help us there. He's transitioning well so far."
Pettway's athleticism also makes him a great candidate for catching passes out of the backfield, something Auburn rarely did with Prosch or Brandon Fulse.
His all-around game should provide the Tigers offense with more versatility and a blocking presence that takes fans back to two seasons ago.
Offensive Line: Avery Young
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With former All-SEC freshman left guard Alex Kozan out for the entire 2014 season, Auburn needed some players to step up in new positions on the offensive line last year.
Avery Young did just that for the Tigers by playing both guard and tackle. Now a junior, he seems to have settled down at right tackle for the 2015 season, where he will be counted on as a reliable pass- and run-blocker.
With elite size (6'6", 305 lbs) and speed for an offensive lineman, Young is the most talented player on an Auburn unit that has several solid NFL prospects, including Kozan and powerful sophomore guard Braden Smith.
Young can do so much for the Tigers offense from his home at right tackle.
And if there are more injuries that call for some shuffling around on the line again, Young has starting experience on the inside and outside.
Defensive Line: Montravius Adams
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With two years of experience as a starter, junior Montravius Adams is the most experienced player coming back on a defensive line that lost a lot of depth to graduation in 2014.
Like Young, Adams brings the advantage of being able to play multiple positions to a line that needs to step up in the trenches this season. He's made 63 tackles so far in his Auburn career, but defensive line coach Rodney Garner believes the best is yet to come from Adams.
"I think Montravius, he's making steps forward," Garner told Ryan Black of the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. "I really believe that he's starting to turn the corner. ... (But) Montravius is having to understand that this is his third year. He has to embrace that leadership role."
The former 5-star recruit will play big roles on the inside and outside of new defensive coordinator Will Muschamp's system, which will use three- and four-man fronts.
If he can turn the corner like Garner says, Adams could have a monster year.
Buck: Carl Lawson
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Auburn's pass rush was virtually nonexistent last season, and Carl Lawson's absence played a huge part in that. Lawson never got a chance to immediately follow up his breakout freshman season after injuring his knee in spring camp and sitting out the entire 2014 campaign.
But Lawson is bigger, stronger, faster and ready to torment quarterbacks from a new position—Muschamp's patented "Buck" hybrid—in 2015.
"He’s like a breath of fresh air," Malzahn told Sallee. "Last year, it was very challenging to play without him because he’s an impact player and one of the better defensive players in the entire country. When you don’t have him, it’s tough."
Lawson's return should boost the entire defense from front to back and help ease the transition to Muschamp's system.
Bringing back the pass rush with Lawson should make Auburn a puncher instead of a punchline on defense in 2015.
Linebacker: Cassanova McKinzy
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In the last two seasons, senior Cassanova McKinzy has been one of the most reliable tacklers on a team that has struggled in that category from time to time.
In 2013, he led the defense with 75 tackles. He came second on the team last season at 91 behind defensive back Johnathan "Rudy" Ford. He flirted with early entrance into the NFL draft this offseason, but he's back as one of the SEC's best linebackers.
His physical nature makes him a perfect middle linebacker for Muschamp to use. Run-stopping has been his specialty at Auburn, and a stronger presence on the edge this season should boost his numbers even more at the heart of the defense.
McKinzy also brings the bonus of chemistry with fellow senior Kris Frost, who started alongside him as the linebackers in Ellis Johnson's 4-2-5 system.
With more assistance around him, McKinzy's leadership and experience are extremely valuable to a linebacking corps that has several future stars in the rotation.
Defensive Back: Tray Matthews
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Is it too early to name Matthews, who hasn't played a game for Auburn yet, as the most important defensive back on the team? Not at all.
On paper, no one else in the secondary has a resume quite like Matthews'. He was one of the nation's highest-rated safeties out of high school and broke into the starting lineup as a true freshman at Georgia.
After his dismissal from the Bulldogs and arrival with the Tigers, he has made a name for himself on the practice field with his playmaking ability and hard-hitting nature. Now he steps into a safety role once held by Jermaine Whitehead, one of the defense's most experienced starters.
Matthews is a welcome addition to a secondary that has fluctuated from average to awful in the last two seasons.
How well he plays in his first year of eligibility at Auburn will help determine how much this unit improves from the 2014 season.
Special Teams: Daniel Carlson
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Daniel Carlson had to do it all for Auburn last season. He was the Tigers' kicker, punter and kickoff specialist as a redshirt freshman, and fatigue started to become an issue later in the year—especially at the Outback Bowl.
Carlson's kicking numbers weren't bad at all—he actually had a better percentage on field goals than senior star Cody Parkey did in 2013—but the added role of punting was an area where he wasn't as consistent.
That should change this fall as Auburn welcomes newcomer Ian Shannon to the fold as a possible starting punter. Focusing just on kicking will be a welcome development for Carlson, who has a remarkably strong leg when it's fresh.
His ability to turn stalled drives into points and be automatic on extra points is crucial for Auburn's offense. With a lighter load, Carlson should have a sophomore surge this fall.
Recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.
Justin Ferguson is an on-call college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.
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